France is expanding its territory ... underwater. The General Secretariat for the Sea and Ifremer announced this Thursday an increase in the maritime domain of some 150,000 km2, off Réunion and the Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF).
"The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, a specialized organ of the United Nations, made public on June 10, 2020, recommendations authorizing France to extend its continental shelf," indicate the General Secretariat for the Sea, Ifremer, as well as the Shom (Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Navy) in a joint press release. The French maritime domain will extend off Reunion, 58,121 km2, and off the islands of Saint-Paul and Amsterdam, in TAAF, of 93,202 km2, or the total equivalent of more than a quarter of the area of the hexagon.
The soil, and only the soil
In 2015, four decrees formalized a first extension of 579,000 km2 of the French continental shelf off Martinique, the Antilles, Guyana, New Caledonia and the Kerguelen Islands. The rights of France over these areas, however, are only exercised over the sea floor and subsoil and not over the water column, which remains in the international domain.
The continental shelf of France will thus be brought to an area of 730,000 km2, which is added to the 10.2 million km2 of waters under sovereignty (internal waters and territorial sea) or under jurisdiction (exclusive economic zone, EEZ) French.
New potential resources
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), known as the Montego Bay Convention, allows coastal countries to extend their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (approximately 370 km) from their EEZ - up to one maximum limit of 350 miles (650 km) - if they demonstrate that their terrestrial territory extends to the bottom of the oceans.
France can still claim around 500,000 km2 of continental shelf, the statement said. These extensions "increase the rights of France over the exploration and exploitation of the resources of the sea floor and subsoil beyond 200 nautical miles", indicates the press release, which stresses however that "the exploitation of these underwater spaces is not on the agenda ”.
These extensions allow France to preserve its rights for the future in vast undersea areas, "which implies the possibility of ensuring their protection if exploitation is not desired", according to the same source.
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